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f:r News Region Roundup Rescued Puppies Now Available For Adoption The dogs rescued from the Nicholson “puppy mill” in February are now up for adoption, the Humane Society of Jackson County (HSJC) has announced. The Department of Agriculture, Animal Control of Jackson County, HSJC and several other rescue or humane organizations rescued 274 dogs from abuse and neglectful conditions Feb. 28. As of June 2, the civil portion of the case has expired, and the dogs can be adopted by the public. The HSJC fostered 10 of the 274 dogs, and one of the Pomeranians was pregnant. All the dogs have had all vaccines and have been spayed or neutered. Those interested in adopt ing one of these dogs may call 706-367-1111 or email agosnell@ alltel.net. The HSJC adoption fee for dogs is $90 and is $70 for cats. All avail able pets may be seen at www. petfinder.com. Who's The Most Conservative House Candidate? The candidates for Georgia’s 10 th U.S. congressional seat spent Friday night invoking faith, chiding liberal politics and even exchanging verbal jabs at one point as they presented their plat forms in front of Madison County Republicans. Incumbent Paul Broun is try ing to fend off challenger Barry Fleming in the July 15 primary. Broun, who is from Athens, painted himself as one of the last of the true conservatives standing in Washington, DC, and a hard line constitutionalist. Meanwhile Fleming, a state senator from Augusta, said he’s a major advo cate of the free market system and the choice for effective con servative leadership. As Broun and Fleming each went to the podium at the hour- long forum at the Madison County High School theater, both candi dates sought to prove he was the superior conservative choice for the party’s nomination. Both agreed for the need to drill for oil and seek alternate energy sources to combat skyrocketing fuel costs. Each politician is an ardent supporter of the Fair Tax proposal, though Fleming said it took Broun eight months to co sponsor it. The two also took similar stances on the need to secure national borders and make English the United States official language, though Broun says that Fleming has criticized him for introducing legislation regarding the latter. But both were harmonious in their contempt for liberal input — especially regarding the envi ronment. “The facts are that there are people in this country that want to rule everything that we do,” Broun said while discussing glob al warming. “They’re called liber als.” Fleming echoed those state ments. “What that tells you is that we do have a lot of liberal extremists that are really Chicken Little that are saying, ‘the sky is falling’ on this issue,” Fleming said. Broun and Fleming both appealed to religion on sever al occasions, saying their faith would drive their decision-making in Washington, DC. “I’m a Bible-believing Christian,” were the first words out of Broun’s mouth. Fleming said he reads from the book of Kings every time he runs for office. But the tone grew from religious to contentious — and sometimes a combination of the two — during the forum. Fleming took an opportu nity, while talking about secur ing national borders, to attack Broun’s “no” vote on a federal public housing bill. Fleming said an amendment to that bill barred illegal immigrants from attaining federal housing. “I am absolutely opposed to people who are here illegally get ting benefits on taxpayer dollars,” he said. Broun later refuted that charge. Invoking the Ten Commandments, Broun said Fleming is distorting his voting record. “In God’s inerrant word, in the Ten Commandments, Barry, one of the Ten Commandments is ‘I shall not bear false witness’ and you’ve already broken that tonight,” said Broun to Fleming. Broun then revisited his vote on the housing issue, saying he opposed the bill because of the expense to taxpayers. Broun said the amendment to the Housing and Urban Development bill was a “blank check on your tax dollars,” mandating that all government housing have a “radi cal” environmental construction agenda. Broun added that the “no funds from illegal aliens” part of the amendment was a liberal ploy, he said, to lure votes for the bill and said that Fleming didn’t under stand liberal deception. “The way these liberal folks do it, they stick these words in there.” Broun said all an illegal alien would have to do to get housing would be say, “I’m not an illegal.” The two exchanged a verbal spat during Fleming’s final comments when he claimed that Broun had waffled on the issue of same-sex marriage, something Broun says he denounces. Reminding Broun of his ear lier citation of the Ninth Commandment, Fleming referred to a news article in the July 18, 2007, Athens Banner-Herald as his source to back up his claim. “I don’t want to be accused of bear ing false witness again,” he said. Saying that Broun was trying to lure Democrat votes, Fleming said Broun “came out saying that he would be opposed to an amend ment to the U.S. Constitution to say that marriage was only between a man and a woman.” “That’s a lie,” Broun interjected, while seated. From the podium, Fleming con tinued . “I’ve supported that since I’ve been in the state house and will support it when I’m in the Congress,” he said. “Now he has flip-flopped on that in an elec tion year and now he says he’s for it and I’m glad that he came around.” Broun, again, was irked. “I introduced the marriage pro tection amendment, folks, to the constitution,” Broun intervened, before he was shushed by mod erator Ralph Hudgens. “I’m not going to interrupt him, so I’ll ask that he not do the same for me,” Fleming said. The two shook hands at the end of the forum and proceeded to separately work the room at the MCHS theatre, drumming up sup port for the July 15 primary. Jefferson Budget Up 3 Percent Over Last Year Jefferson leaders continue to review a proposed $6.6 million budget for next year, up three percent over the current budget, while making cuts to requests from departments. The original proposed budget, which included all of the requests from department heads, was $7.2 million. City manager John Ward has since trimmed some of the requests, with the largest cuts coming from the proposed recre ation budget. “We have cut corners,” Ward said. “We are in remarkable shape compared to where we were just over one year ago.” At a work session Monday night, Ward said that $136,000 has been taken out of the pro posed recreation budget, includ ing funds for a mower and ice machine. Mayor Jim Joiner stressed that County School Budget: No Property Tax Increase By Kerri Testement The Jackson County Board of Education has given an initial approval of its 2009 fiscal year budget for $92.4 million. It’s a budget that doesn’t include a deficit or proposed property tax hike, but does foresee cuts in some departments from a previ ously proposed budget. The 2009 budget is a 9.9 percent increase from the 2008 budget of $83.2 million. Jeff Sanchez, assistant superin tendent for finance and informa tion systems, said the board may adopt the final budget during the fall. In the meantime, the board authorized the superintendent to seek bids for a $12 million Tax Anticipation Note (TAN) until the district receives finalized tax digest information to adopt the budget. Sanchez told the board that the tighter economy is affecting the budgets of every family and busi ness. “We need to just hold the line on this one,” he said Thursday. Sanchez said the district is still looking for expenses to cut and determine funding priorities, should the projected county tax digest increase five percent. “It’s also a year that we can catch our breath,” Sanchez said. “Instead of taking on new proj ects, we can sharpen the ones we’ve got.” The school board initially looked at a budget during its retreat in May at Glen Ella Resort that topped $95.8 million and included a projected $2 million deficit. Since then, the county school system has learned that its local fair share for the budget increased by $1.2 million, up to $7.2 mil lion. Sanchez said the school system “pulled out all of the stops” to trim costs when it learned about the additional costs for local taxpay ers. Some of those measures includ ed trimming more than $2.1 mil lion in technology projects, new vehicles and funding additional textbooks. The system is considering a plan to swap textbooks among schools and order sets for classrooms, Sanchez said. Eventually, stu dents may turn to instruction on the internet instead of textbooks for their studies, he added. Board chairperson Kathy Wilbanks asked that all funding options for textbooks be consid ered. “We’re certainly going to get what the kids need, but if we’re just buying a $125 textbook and they’re just sitting in the class room, then there might be a better way,” Wilbanks said. The district, however, is pur chasing several new textbooks and related materials for science and math in various grades. The system is also proposing buying five new buses instead of seven. That move would save about $160,000. Another cost-saving measure may include taking a second look at non-essential school field trips. The Jackson County School System logged more than 40,000 miles last school year for non- essential field trips, excluding those for music and athletic pro grams. The proposed budget estimates that diesel fuel for school buses will hit $4.50 a gallon. The school system recently paid $4.01 a gal lon for diesel fuel. Instruction is the top expense for the county school system. That figure is expected to rise seven percent — from $40 million in the 2008 budget to $44 million. Jackson County plans to hire 36 additional teachers for the 2008-2009 school year. Gum Springs Elementary School will open in August. Sanchez noted that within two years, the school system has also opened East Jackson Comprehensive High School and Kings Bridge Middle School. The district used to open a new school about every five years, he said. For the next school year, the Jackson County School System will have more than 551 teach ers, 159 paraprofessionals, 88 bus drivers, 77 custodian personnel, 36 administrators and 15 counsel ors among its staff totaling 1,027 employees. More than 83 percent of the general fund budget includes sala ries and benefits. The Jackson County School System estimates it will receive $35.4 million in local funds and $32.8 million in state funds for the 2009 budget. Grant funds are anticipated at $23.3 million, along with a $1.1 million balance to start the budget July 1. The budget includes a projected ending balance of $504,438 June 30, 2009. The cost of educating a child in the county school system is expected to reach $12,457. Of that amount, $6,467 would be pro vided by local funds and $5,989 from the state. as many cuts as possible need to be taken. “We’re in dire straights as far as the economy goes,” he said. “We don’t need to be thinking about spending anything we don’t have to ... We issued one housing permit last month. There isn’t anything moving.” Among the increases in the total budget include funds for health insurance, property liabil ity insurance and gasoline. Jackson Audit Reflects Growth In Government While there were no major sur prises in the Jackson County 2007 audit, the impact of a grow ing county government were evi dent. Overall revenues to the county, excluding borrowing, grew 5.5 percent in 2007 over 2006, topping $49 million. But General Fund expenses, which is the core county fund and not as subject to wide swings of borrowing, grew by 15 percent. Indeed, were it not for having allocated $1 million in borrowed funds for future use, the county’s General Fund would have been in the red for the year. One of the problems for the county in 2007 was a drop in ser vice charges by the county ambu lance department to $766,000, down from $843,000 in 2006 on top of a growth in ambu lance expenses. That forced the county’s overall support of the ambulance service up 39 percent from $1.56 million in 2006 to $2.16 million last year. As in past years, the county’s major source of revenue con tinued to be property and sales taxes in 2007 and its major area of expense was public safety, which includes the sheriff’s department, county jail, EMS, and other departments. Vendors Sought For Braselton Festival July 4 The Celebrate Braselton festi val — set for Friday, July 4, — is seeking parade and vendor par ticipants. The festival, which is sponsored by the town, will be held at the Braselton Park. The town is seeking organiza tions — such as scout troops, ath letic teams, pageant winners and marching bands — and cools cars to participate in a parade. A parade will begin at 10 a.m. and will go through downtown Braselton on Ga. Hwy. 53. Music will begin in the park at 11 am. “The Bored Executives” will per form at 1 pm. and Elizabeth Cook and Band will perform at 5 pm. At dusk, a fireworks show behind Publix on Ga. Hwy. 211 will begin. Vendor booths will be open in the park from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. The town is seeking vendors, such as antiques, crafts, food, jewelry, purses, kiddie crafts and recre ational activities. For more information, call the Town of Braselton at 706-654-3915. CLASSIFIED ADS 36,000 READERS S10 PER WEEK 706-335-2927 • 706-367-5233 MasterCard • VISA Save $3 by placing ads online at classified@mainstreetnews.coin FOR ONLY $5 PER MONTH, YOU CAN LIST YOUR GROUP'S MEETINGS! Let your members know when your group is meeting! Call (706) 367-5233 to advertise your meeting time, place and date in... • The Jackson Herald • The Commerce News • The Braselton News • The Banks County News • The Madison County Journal UNITY LODGE F & A.M. No. 36, Jefferson, GA 1st Tuesday of each month, 7:30 p.m. Dwight Wier • 706-367-5882 Borders St. behind Tabo’s 2so JEFFERSON ROTARY CLUB Meets Tuesdays Jefferson City Clubhouse 12:30 p.m. • (706) 654-2237 Clay Eubanks, President COMMERCE AMERICAN LEGION Commerce Rec. Dept. Post 93 Carson Street - 1st Mon. night Each Month, 7:30 p.m. 335-6400 Citizens Organized for Pipeline Safety investigating the health risks to citizens from underground pipelines and booster stations in Madison Co. Meetings 6:30 p.m. at the Colbert Grove Baptist Church the 2nd Thurs. of each month. 706-783-4702. Pd.04/09 JEFFERSON AMERICAN LEGION Albert Gordon Post 56 Each 3rd Tuesday, 7:30 p.m. Harvie Lance, Commander Phone (706) 654-1274 aio White Plains Baptist Church Faith Bible Class meets every Sunday morning at 10:00 a.m. It is a place where strangers become friends and friends become family. 706-367-5650 White Plains Baptist Church 3650 Hwy. 124 West, Jefferson, GA 30549 The Jackson Co. Republican Party Would like you to meet us for breakfast the second Sat. of each month, 8:00 at The Jefferson House. For more information, call 706-652-2967 or email fishyglass@yahoo.com Pd.li/os BANKS COUNTY AMERICAN LEGION Post 215 Meets each 3rd Thursday, 7 p.m. In Homer, GA at the American Legion Building on Historic Highway 441 pd.06/08 • VETERANS OF FOREIGN WARS Post 4872, Hurricane Shoals Convention Ctr. Each 4th Monday, 7:00 p.m. Mike Buffington, Commander Phone 706-335-6532 263 JEFFERSON LIONS CLUB Meets 2nd & 4th Monday Jefferson City Clubhouse 6:30 p.m. • (706) 367-1400 Mark Bradley, President iior pe asi» TffiFr m NOW ENROLLING FOR FALL Christian Outreach Thrift St ore k)£Iaj amp ts£>ev FueMiruee, harrtzee>€>e€>, cllot^ uou&eiAOLD aoove, gtc... 335-6084 2183 N. Elm St Commerce, GA From KinderCare to College Prep... ACS Does It All ATTRACTIVE 54 ACRE CAMPUS GRADES K-3 THROUGH 12 ACCREDITED (GA ACCRED. COMM.) TEACHERS AVG. 15 YRS. 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